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products with purpose… reclaimed wine barrel staves

It’s a stunning piece, utterly sustainable. Crafted from the staves of a retired wine barrel and repurposed wine cooler bottles. You can flip the wooden base over and still see the deep purple stains of the wine. They’re perfect for a beer or wine tasting, or to hold votive or tealight candles as part of a centerpiece or mantle decoration. But that’s not all they’re good for! We’re all about finding creative new ways to use every day items, and the Beer Flight is no different. We challenged our creative team to come up with some alternative uses for the flights, and after rattling off the expected list, they started living up to their creative title.

The list of ideas started out fast and furious with dips and salsas, then nuts and candies, and even desserts like puddings or trifles. Then it started to get interesting. Here are a few of our favorites.

Using the 5-cup flight, serve three soups or chiles and two toppers (like crackers and cheese).

Use the 3-cup fight as a unique way to serve up a banana split.

Fill the cups with decorative beads before nestling a tealight on top.

Fill the cups with found objects like colorful leaves, holiday berries, pinecones, etc.

Use the cups as miniature flower vases to display seasonal blooms.

Fill the cups with various toppings for a make-your-own (taco, sundae, pizza, etc) bar.

In fact, our holiday favorite comes from the last suggestion. Fill the cups with things like crushed peppermint candies, crushed cinnamon candies, miniature marshmallows, miniature chocolate chips and other fun toppings and mix-ins for your favorite hot cocoa. Serve up your cocoa in our Café Au Lait Mugs and you’ve got the perfect dessert for sitting around the fire on a chilly winter night.

Wine barrels have an interesting story. The process hasn’t changed in generations, and if the cooper (barrelmaker) is using sustainably-sourced wood, the entire process is incredibly green and nontoxic—the barrels will be holding a beverage after all! Oak trees are hand split and carefully aged over several years to craft the staves of a barrel that are then toasted, or lightly burned, to help conduct the wood flavors to the wine. There is no glue or adhesive of any kind used, only the metal hoops hold the barrel together. A wine barrel has a finite life span, usually five to 10 years, before the wood has done all it can to impact the flavor of the wine stored within. Wineries regularly purge their stock of old barrels. This is where we get the staves, or slats, to create these unique serving pieces.